Father of Kirsty Ward ‘very disappointed' by 15 year sentence handed to killer boyfriend
The father of Kirsty Ward, who was murdered in a Spanish hotel two years ago, has revealed that the Spanish Public Prosecutor is appealing the sentence handed down to her former boyfriend.
Today it emerged that former soldier Keith Byrne (34) from Duleek, Co Meath, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of Kirsty Ward (36) with time off for the two years he has already spent in custody.
Speaking to the Irish Independent outside his home in Dundrum, her father John said that in their family's opinion the judge who imposed sentence had 'moved to a lower band' than what the jury had decided in their verdict last May.
'This should not have happened,' Mr Ward said.
Sentencing judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez said in a lengthy ruling that the convicted killer's consumption of alcohol and drugs before he murdered the mother-of-one diminished his cognitive faculties and was a prevailing mitigating factor.
'He (Byrne) never even offered that as a defence in the trial,' Mr Ward told the Irish Independent, before saying that his family 'feel very disappointed' by the sentence.
Keith Byrne
Adding that the leniency of the sentence is now being appealed by the Spanish authorities, Mr Ward said that his family had known about the sentencing judgement for four weeks.
After Byrne's conviction private prosecutor Estela Cortes called for a 30-year-sentence for the murderer, and Mr Ward said this sentence is what the family think is appropriate in the case.
When asked about the trial process earlier this year in the Spanish city of Tarragona, Mr Ward said he found it 'dreadful'.
He said that Byrne has shown 'no remorse' and that throughout the three week trial where he sat near Kirsty's family in court he appeared 'very confident and very self-assured".
'We have not gained anything by what has happened,' Mr Ward added.
Sentencing judge Susana Calvo Gonzalez ruled the fact that Byrne and his 36-year-old partner had been in a stable eight-month relationship made the crime more serious.
Public prosecutor Javier Goimil, a domestic violence specialist, dismissed Byrne's court claim that Ms Ward took her own life during his closing speech to the jury on the final day of the murder trial.
He claimed the former soldier decided "you're mine or you're nobody's" and strangled his girlfriend to death with a hair straightener power cord because she wanted out of their relationship.
Kirsty's mother Jackie Ward gave evidence during the trial in April.
Ms Ward said her beloved daughter's trip to Spain was a 'make or break' holiday.
She told the court that she found out after her daughter's death that she was going to leave him.
She recalled her daughter's state of mind in the lead-up to the incident in the four-star hotel on July 2, 2023.
"She was not herself. She was not happy the morning she left," she said. "I could tell as her mother when she left that there was something not right.
"I said to my sisters, 'I really wish she wasn't going away this week', and I don't know why I said that, but I know she was not in a good place and she was not happy."
Asked if her daughter had confided that she was having problems with Byrne before the holiday in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou, she said: "I didn't know it at that time. She didn't say anything to me going.
"But I knew it wasn't right. I didn't like him. I didn't trust him.
"Afterwards, I found out from friends and colleagues she worked with that there were issues, that she had decided it was the make-or-break holiday, that she was going to leave him."
She was asked whether she thought her daughter could have died by suicide, to which she replied: 'She did everything for her son. She would never, ever leave him. She would never do that to him.'
In the aftermath of the murder Byrne was remanded in custody after he appeared before a special court in Tarragona that deals with violence against women in a closed hearing.
Just over a week later he claimed that he had no involvement in Ms Ward's death in a video, brazenly shot in his prison cell.
In the video in which he addressed a number of family members and friends directly, the murderer said: 'Obviously you know that I didn't do it because (inaudible) found the girl dead,' he said.
'The truth will come out', he said, before claiming that Ms Ward was dead for a number of hours before he found her.
'And then the newspapers will all eat their words but listen I love you all very much and just keep this video because everyone will watch it. I love you right, with all my heart,' Byrne continued.
The video ends with Byrne blowing a kiss and saying 'see ye all soon' - not once in the recording did he mention his victim by name.
Murder victim Kirsty Ward
News in 90 Seconds - July 24th
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